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Monday, December 16, 2013

- Around 2,000 protesters gathered to peacefully protest the "Global Gag Rule" in Neptune Square, Madrid.
- After an hour and a half they left the square and headed towards Sol via Cibeles and Alcalá street.
- During this time the number of protesters multiplied to about 5,000.
- After leaving Sol about 100 people provoked serious altercations around the Atocha area, causing police charges, 23 injured and at least 7 injured.
Here is a twitter account of the events

Thousands of people packed Neptune square in Madrid to protest against a draft of the citizen security law, which turned into a march towards Sol, where around a hundred people separated and went towards Atocha to provoke serious altercations resulting in police charges with 23 injured and at least 7 detained, according to police sources.

Around 2,000 people started the peaceful protest in Neptune square. "The people's voice is not illegal", they exclaimed given that the protest did not have the permission of the Government Delegation in Madrid.

An hour and a half later, thousands of protesters left Neptune in a matter of minutes to head towards Cibeles, where they stopped traffic and proceeded up Alcalá street towards Puerta del Sol. "As it usually ends up in violence at Congress we have decided to take to the streets and change the end of the route of this demonstration" said one of the participants of the convening group. During this time the number of protesters grew to 5,000. Until this point everything passed peacefully.

Around a hundred provked disturbances

Once in Sol, a group of around 100 took another route and surrounded Carretas Street near Atocha. In San Sebastián street, they damaged a police car with paint and broke the rear window. During this a police cordon blocked the way of the protesters who started to throw bottles at them and the police couldn't escape.

Then at 9 PM the police charges started — 23 were injured, nine of them citizens and 14 national police, all with minor cuts and sprains and were attended to in a tent close to Atocha. Three police and one protester were transferred to hospital and the area turned into a battle field: in Ángel square terrace furniture was destroyed and bottle banks tipped over. Before the situation the shops had closed. A little later, the group dispersed towards Santa Ana square while calm was restored to Ángel square. Then the police charges started again in Atocha which left at least 7 detained and
more than 40 identified. According to national Police the riot police controlled the situation and the "violent" groups.